Mindset - 1st Pillar of Your Complete Financial House

Now let’s give a little deeper into your Complete Financial House but unraveling each pillar, one by one. Mindset is the first of the Four Pillars of Your Complete Financial House. You cannot build and make changes without the proper a mindset, which is why it is the first pillar, or the foundation of your financial house. Your mindset can be broken down into three main categories: Vision, Purpose, and Discipline.

Vision

When planning for retirement, people often begin by discussing their current investments. However, at HWM, we believe the first thing they should be doing is visualizing their financial dreams and goals. What would life look like 5 - 10 years from now? What’s important to you during your second phase of life? It’s important to know this because a person’s financial goals need to line up with their investments. It’s also important for couples/partners who may not be on the same page. Establishing their goals first helps ensure joint conclusions are made and investments can be managed easier later.

In visualizing, begin by picturing your financial dreams and goals without thinking about specific dollar amounts. Many people are not sure what retirement looks like to them. Having a vision will help them see through the various possible options.

With a future vision in mind, it will also be easier to review goals, and stay on track. Financial goals should be reviewed at least on an annual basis, and the game plan can be updated or adjusted each year.

2. Purpose

After your vision becomes clear and you determine your financial dreams and goals, the next steps of purpose and discipline needs to take place. It’s best to write these goals down, as this will give it more purpose. Then each goal should be prioritized and time frames should be created. This is important because if timelines are set and goals are categorized, the numbers part will easily follow. Breaking down a long-term goal into small achievable steps will help you accomplish the big goal.

3. Discipline

Now that a plan is place, it’s time to stay on course to achieve your goals. One must now practice discipline and accountability to make sure everything stays on track. People often have good ideas, but are not willing to make the necessary commitments. In addition, life happens and so things may change along the way; therefore, it is important to complete an annual review and adjust your financial plan if necessary. Once a plan is being applied, the process of reaching goals is empowering. Often, when discipline is consistently exercised, people even figure out ways to make the path to the goal easier.

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We’ve found that many people think of retirement as just an idea, so having a proper plan and mindset will help in making their ideas into visualizations, and retirement dreams into a realities. Having a great mindset is a great start down the road to a happy and ideal retirement, whatever that may look like for you!